


Die Rose in der Lunge

by Mikiri_Tohoshima



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood spitting, Canon-Typical Violence, Coughing, Description of surgery on the throat, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, Pining, Unrequired Love, flowers in the lungs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28770807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikiri_Tohoshima/pseuds/Mikiri_Tohoshima
Summary: Fritz, the BLU medic, suffers of Hanahaki disease and he tries to bury his feeling until they almost kill him.
Relationships: BLU Medic/RED Medic, Original Character/Original Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Die Rose in der Lunge

All started with a slight cough.  
The BLU medic , Fritz, wasn't really concerned about his own health. It was just a little cough, so he just decided to stop smoking for some time and let the respawn heal it.  
After all, it had been a couple weeks since he hit respawn last. He could use a restart.

That day during battle, he entered the respawn at least three times, so he stopped worrying about the cough.

Days went by, on the battlefield and in the base. Fritz eventually found himself coughing again after one of his secret hookups with the RED medic.  
They were lying there in Fritz’s car, and the Medic lit a cigarette. Fritz looked at him, wanting to ask him to stop, but the moonlight hit his rival's face in such a way that made the younger medic let out a longing sigh, which was promptly followed by a coughing fit.

The RED medic turned off the cigarette, helped the other to sit up, and passed his warm hand on Fritz’s naked back, his professionalism peeking through his sadistic façade.

“What is going on, here... are you neglecting yourself?”

Fritz moved away. He covered himself with his shirt and opened the car door to sit up better and put his clothes back on.

“I am fine. I just need some cough syrup... or something like that...”  
“Or a couple of new lungs?”  
Fritz rolled his eyes, fixing his trousers and his tie. He retrieved a small comb from his pocket and began fixing his hair.

“I do not need new lungs. Now, get out of my car, I have to get back to the base before somebody notices my absence.”  
The RED medic shrugged. He fixed his trousers and plucked his cigarette from the ashtray. He then stepped out of the car and circled around to stand in front of the other man. Fritz had still yet to understand how during sex he was always the one to end up completely naked, whereas the RED medic just unbuttoned his pants. But Fritz wasn’t in the mood to ask questions.

“I can give you a checkup if that cough keeps bothering you...”  
The RED medic said, grinning slightly, while Fritz shook his head, finishing up.

“That won’t be necessary, I am a doctor as well, you know...”  
“I am sorry, sometimes I forget that you are not only here to have sexual intercourse with me...”  
That last sentence earned him a shoe in the face, but that didn’t stop him grinning while Fritz recovered the footwear and finally stood up.

“Yeah. I know. I’m going home.”

The RED medic watched him, sighing a little, while Fritz reached the driver's side of his car and started the engine.

“Do you want to meet again?”  
The man asked. Fritz just shrugged.

“I’ll let you know.”

And he left.

A couple weeks passed by, but the cough didn’t stop. After spending a five days in observation, it was determined that whatever was tormenting the BLU medic wasn’t contagious, at least. But for good measure, Fritz decided to halt his meetings with the RED medic.  
Of course, in some ways he missed him, but Fritz thought it was just the rupture of the routine that made him feel that way.

That was until one day on the battlefield. After the demo man hit him, Fritz went into a coughing fit so fierce that he folded over on himself, his hands clutching his throat...

...then he felt something smooth on his tongue.

The BLU medic removed the facemask he used on the field, put a finger in his mouth, and when he removed it, found a crimson flower petal stuck to his fingertip. It was probably from a rose, given the smell.  
"What the... How did it get in my mouth?"  
But he couldn't hold onto that thought, as he had to go back to the battlefield. He felt a little better.

Just a little.  
After that small event, the cough stopped, and Fritz forgot about the petal. Life went on, slow like molasses, until he decided to meet with the RED medic again.  
But, when they got intimate, Fritz began to cough again, harsh, and the RED medic stopped, worried. The BLU medic rolled on his side, spitting a bunch of flower petals on the seat.

The RED medic stopped, looking at them and taking one between two fingers, curious.

“Oh, look at that... So, is this what was going on, Herr Medic?”  
Fritz tried to clean his mouth from the spit and his eyes from the tears, and then looked at the other medic.

“Do... do you know what’s wrong with me?”  
The RED medic buttoned his trousers, sitting in one of the front seats, still keeping the petal between his fingers.

“I might have an idea, yeah. This is such a rare sickness... I heard about it, but never saw it in action.”  
Fritz frowned, putting on his shirt and underwear.  
“I will be glad if you stop beating around the bush and get to the point. What is it?”  
“How impatient... Basically, it’s a love sickness. A rare one. You fall in love with somebody, they don’t return your love, and then you grow flowers in your lungs. You will suffocate unless the person you are in love with acknowledges your suffering.

“We could also remove the flowers surgically, but then you would stop experiencing any feelings towards whoever you fell in love with.

“Normal folks think it’s necessary that they fall in love back, but that was just a myth made to oblige young maidens to marry ugly suitors. Now, when I say you're giving me blue balls, that's a real thing..."

And he grinned when Fritz kicked his leg.

“Anyway... if you really have roses growing in your lungs, prepare to feel pain once the thorns reach the walls of them. And you might even start to spit blood...”

“Wait... do I have to stay like this? With... the cough and the petals and... did you say thorns?”

Fritz was starting to get really anxious about it. He put a hand on his chest, perceiving the beat of his own heart while taking a deep breath that was immediately followed by another cough, filling his mouth with petals once more.

The RED medic had to keep a hand on his back while the younger one basically threw up a crimson cascade outside.  
Fritz couldn’t count them anymore; there were too many. They filled his mouth and nose with a faint smell.

“Do you know who you fell in love with? It’s just a matter of time... look at how many there are now...”

The RED medic was right, but Fritz didn’t want to admit it. He fixed his crooked glasses, wiped his mouth one more time and then nodded.  
“I had no idea something like this could happen. And... I have for sure made some reasonings after that...”  
The RED medic sighed, letting him go.  
“I am not sure this is an infliction that the respawn can heal. I could remove them, if you so desire.”

Fritz shook his head, stubborn.

“I will never let you lay a hand on me-- o-on a surgical bed, or like... ever...”  
The RED medic gave him a look, but let him go and kept his distance.

“Well, do what you will, then. If you need help, I believe that I am the only one that can do it for you. And you’ll need those flowers out, sooner or later.”

And after he took his leave, Fritz went back to his own base, thinking intensely about what to do.  
He couldn’t tell anyone about this. He seriously needed to keep it secret, and so he did for a couple weeks. He tried to swallow the petals cramming his mouth, tried to cough only when he wasn’t around anyone, and once the thorns scraped the walls of his lungs, injected himself with painkillers until the room was dizzy.

He knew that avoiding the problem wasn’t' going to do him any better, and his biggest fear was to succumb to suffocation during one of the days the respawn was down...

But he underestimated the intelligence of his teammates.  
Heavy was the first one who found flower petals in the shower drain. Scout once heard the medic coughing his lungs out right before his morning run, and Spy... Spy knew everything.

Spy knew about the symptoms the moment the Medic went through respawn still coughing, and the discovery of the petals only proved his suspicions to be true.

Also, Spy knew who the BLU medic was coughing flowers for.  
After all, there was a reason those petals were the color of blood.... but he wanted to wait for Fritz to come out clean to the team. To confess everything. To finally expose his sickness and try to find a solution. But that moment never came, Fritz kept hiding in the shadows and the team was left out of it...

Until the day when, during a meal, Fritz started to cough one more time. The coughing became so hard and painful that he was surrounded by the entire team, unsure on what to do, until the BLU medic spat out some bloody red buds because of the thorns piercing his tongue.  
Fritz tried to take them in his hands, but it wasn't over, and some more red petals came out, leaving him short of breath.

Engineer took one of the petals in his hand, while Scout gave the medic a hanky, letting him wipe the blood off.  
Fritz was literally getting too overwhelmed, surrounded by his team like this. Now everyone knew, and he had never even coughed up full buds before. That was really painful.

He stood up, trying to break through his companions, and ran towards the infirmary. He closed the door and sat in front of it.  
The cough came back, and this time instead of buds and petals, he coughed up a flower in full bloom.  
He brought a hand to his chest, tears tracing lines on his dirty cheeks, while the thorns of the roses in his lungs again pierced his flesh. He gagged at the feeling of the soft petals growing in his throat.  
Then a shadow loomed over him, and he lifted his gaze, noticing the BLU spy looking at him, almost towering over him. He then kneeled, bringing a hand to his cheek.

“You can’t keep going on like this. You are going to die, because respawn doesn’t heal this and you know it. Why are you suffering so?”

“I... I don’t know...”  
Those words came out with a small hiss of air, before Fritz went back to coughing. The floor was covered with buds and petals, so the spy decided to take the matter in his own hands.

He grabbed Fritz’s arm and he dragged him on the medical bed, basically strapping him to it, then he lit up the medigun on the ceiling. He pointed it towards Fritz’s throat, and then he grabbed a scalpel from the tray. He took the cigarette from his mouth and extinguished it.

He proceeded to cut Fritz’s throat with the scalpel, letting the medigun heal the wound but at the same time keeping it open. The spy then removed some of the flowers from there.  
The BLU medic kept his eyes open all the while, watching helplessly at what the spy was doing to him, tears streaming down his face.

Once satisfied with his pruning, the spy directed the medigun towards the medic's throat, closing the wound and then taking a step aside to light another cigarette.

The medic immediately sat up, trying to take off the blood-stained clothes, angry at the spy.  
“What's the big idea!?”  
Spy took a long drag from his cigarette, exhaling smoke.

“You could’ve died.”  
“Well, I didn’t need your help!”  
Spy sighed.

“I am of the opinion that the lack of oxygen you are subjected to lately--because of your sickness-- is slowly turning you into a moron. I am pretty sure our medic knew when it was time to ask for help. Also, I already know what is going on, so you don’t have to explain why you are suddenly spitting flowers, but my question is... do you know who those flowers are for?”

Fritz shook his head, looking at the buds and petals still on the ground, and then to the fully bloomed plant that had just been in his throat.

“You don’t know who you fell in love with? Don’t you think the rose is a pretty obvious indication that you are in love with the RED medic?”  
Those words burned BLU medic’s brain once he processed them, his eyes widening. He started to shake his head, while the cough came back more persistent.

After the expulsion of another couple of red petals, Fritz could answer.

“I... I am not in love with the RED medic. This is not possible, and I...”

Spy took a drag from his cigarette.  
“And you what? You have to accept it and tell him. He has to know, or you will die.”

The medic shook his head, feeling stubborn but also tired; he didn’t want to ask the spy how he knew about the RED medic... but that wasn’t a secret Fritz kept exactly hidden, so he didn’t have to complain about it.

Also, he seriously didn’t know how he could develop feelings towards that man. He was always treating him as his inferior, and they were only meeting without killing each other for a quick fuck... but in the past months he also felt like he had an equal, in a manner of speaking. They joked about the incompetence of their teammates, and Fritz found himself thinking about building something to bring to the outside world once the war ended...

After that realization, the medic brought his hands on his eyes, sighing deeply.

“So, this is the reason... this is why... because I know it’s never going to happen. And this...”  
He touched his own chest.  
“This pains me.”

He then stood up, his legs a little wobbly because of the lack of oxygen, but he nodded towards the spy.  
“I have to make a call.”  
Spy took another drag from his cigarette, sighing as well.

“Just make the right choice...”

It didn’t take too long to organize. During one of the battles, Fritz managed to corner the RED medic and told him what he needed to do.  
The rival looked pretty worried about that proposal, but he agreed.  
“I mean... wouldn’t be easier for you to just speak to the person you are in love with, if you know who they are?”

The RED medic looked pretty weak, lately. Fritz noticed that he was short of breath and he was pretty pale under his helmet, but that didn’t concern Fritz. Or, well, it did concern him a lot but he was sure everything was fine. It had to be, so he didn’t even ask.  
The RED medic then nodded.  
“Let’s meet tomorrow night, and let’s put an end to it.”

It was a simple plan. The RED medic would remove the flowers from Fritz's lungs, he would stop loving him, and everything would go back to normal.

No more secret encounters, no more chatting under the moon, no more of his sad face looking longingly at him...

The day of the surgery, Fritz was laying on the medical bed, the bright light almost blinding him, as the other medic entered his field of view.

“I think I will need to sedate you for this. Trust me, I won't make you sleep forever...”  
“Why are you doing this? I mean, I know I asked for your help, but you could’ve refused anytime, let me suffocate, and...”

The red Medic grinned under his surgical mask, shaking his head.

“Oh, my dear... I could never do something like that to you.... after all...”  
He coughed a little, and picked something from under the mask, a small blossom of blue hydrangea.

“I am in love with you...”

Fritz widened his eyes while the medic put the anesthetic mask on his face, suffocating his words and putting him to sleep.

Epilogue.

Fritz sat on the hood of his car, breathing the dry air of the desert night, keeping his eyes towards the horizon. The sun was setting.  
Ludwig, the RED medic, sat next to him, looking in his same direction.

“The scar is going to stay there for a while... I couldn’t heal you with my medigun...”

“I know. But why did you do that...?”

“I know it was something you always wanted. And I wanted to make you happy.”  
“Why did you never tell me you loved me?”  
“Because I thought you were in love with somebody else... since you spat flowers too...”  
Fritz looked at him, a hand on his now flat chest, an angry look on his face but so full of gratitude for the man he was still in love with. Now that Ludwig knew for who the flowers were for, they just disappeared from Fritz's lungs. And so did Ludwing's own flowers.

“It was a poisonous flower, you could've died!”  
Ludwig caressed his face fondly, leaning in to kiss him.

“And you let your roses grow until they pierced your lungs. You are not all that different from me, dear.”  
Fritz let out a small laugh, headbutting his lover a little and kissing him again.

“Yeah... that might be true... I am glad you changed your mind mid surgery...”  
Ludwig hugged him one more time, his head leaning on Fritz shoulder.  
“I am glad too. I am happier with you.”  
“Me too.”  
And once the sun finished setting, Fritz grabbed Ludwig hand, and guided him inside the car.

The end.


End file.
